WO2004027733A1 - System for management of flight plans in the control tower of an airport - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for managing traffic, especially the displacement of planes, in an airport. Management is carried out by the controllers (SOL) and (LOC) respectively in charge of flight management in their area of responsibility using information media in the form of a strip which is associated with each flight and on which the controllers write information relating to their management action, and positioning tables for said information strips according to management requirements. The information strips are transmitted from one controller to the next when the planes that they identify leave the management sector of the first controller for the sector of the second controller. The system is characterized in that the information media strips are virtual strips which can be visualized on a computer equipment screen at the workstation of a controller and the table positioning device is a virtual table which can also be visualized on said screen. The invention can be used in air traffic management at airports.

Description

"Airport control tower flight plan management system".

The invention relates to a traffic management system at an airport, in particular the movement of aircraft between their parking area and their departure and arrival, by controllers, in particular SOL and LOC, distribute the traffic according to a geographical division, depending on the traffic load at a given time. They carry out this activity in particular using information media in the form of a band, one of which is associated with each flight, comprising the identification information of the aircraft and the flight and on which the controllers are likely to record information relating to their management actions, and tables for positioning information carriers according to management needs, the information carriers being transmitted by a controller to a next controller when the aircraft they identify leave the management sector from the first controller to the second sector.

Traffic management in the field concerned by the invention is mainly ensured by two types of controllers, SOL controllers and LOC controllers having respectively SOL and LOC sectors under their responsibility. The SOL controllers are responsible for managing the circulation of aircraft on the part of the maneuvering area. -They determine in particular the path to follow for planes between their parking lot and the threshold of the runways for a departure and to the allocated parking lot for an arrival, ensuring the crossings on the ground. LOC controllers are notably responsible for the take-off and landing phases of the establishment and / or the maintenance of separations in the volume of traffic they control. They provide the information control and alert service for the final approach, the runways, the initial departure and missed approach phases. They decide on the departure sequence to be applied by giving the alignment and take-off authorization, that is to say, the separation between departures.

This description of the tasks of the controllers which is far from exhaustive, was given to demonstrate the complexity of the missions that the controllers must accomplish. One of the basic tools controllers use, one of which is associated with each aircraft, is the aforementioned information tapes. These information strips have so far been paper strips of the type shown in FIG. 1 and which the controller positions on an appropriate table device. FIG. 2 illustrates a work station of a SOL controller equipped with printing devices 1 and receiving devices 2 for the strips indicated in 3 as well as a device 4 for positioning them.

As shown in Figure 1, a strip of paper 3 is rectangular in shape, for example 21.5 x 3 cm. The information which is printed on this paper strip and which is information concerning the airplane or more precisely the flight which the controller must manage comes from the flight plan submitted by the pilot, stored in the database of a Service of Central control called the Flight Plan Processing System, and processed and updated more generally within the so-called Automatic Air Traffic Coordination system. Controllers can make changes and write entries on the information tapes. There are two types of bands, DEP start bands and ARR destination bands. The DEP and ARR supports include a common part 6 linked to the flight identification, which is the left part and which gathers information concerning the airplane, its departure and arrival aerodrome, the type of airplane, the company etc. Figure 1 shows a DEP start band. By way of example, we note in a the indication of the type of aircraft, in b the proper speed in knots, in c the departure, in d the estimated take-off time, in e the destination. To the right of the printed area is provided the blank area 7 intended for the inscriptions and annotations of the controllers. At the right end of the strip is a zone 8 including, among other things, indications of the starting track in g and the parking in h.

Concerning the device 2 for positioning the paper strips 3, it generally comprises four kinds of tables, the chute which is a storage area complementary to the waiting table, the waiting table, for temporary storage of the strips on which the flights about to enter the sector are deposited, the operational table made up of two columns and allowing for example to insert more than twenty active bands which concern the flights currently taken into account and the archive containing the "expired" flights for the SOL and LOC sectors. These tapes are transmitted from hand to hand with all their content, their possible annotation and their verbal accompaniment. Concerning writing gestures or annotations, there are in particular three categories, namely additions corresponding to the entry of explicit information, modifications corresponding to the striking out gesture followed by additions of information and particulars corresponding to the gesture of underlining, entourage and redaction.

signifiant "voie de roulage à noter" lorsqu'elle est donnée au pilote.As an example of some standard annotations, in the context of the operation of a SOL controller during reception "authorizes pushing back", the controller marks the entry of the information by a handwritten P in the area of registration, meaning "authorized" to push back. The entry of the instruction "authorized to taxi" will be made by writing a handwritten R, made by the controller adding a line to the "P" made before. this instruction could also be confirmed by the controller who crosses the P and adds an R. The controller could note the transmission an instruction to the pilot, the entry of which gave rise to an annotation, by a circle around the latter. The controller could also note the entry of information relating to a ramp on the taxiway by a circled annotation meaning "ramp to be noted" or

meaning "taxiway to be noted" when given to the pilot.

A relatively detailed description has been given above of the tools and techniques used to date by the controllers responsible for managing aircraft traffic at an airport, to demonstrate the complexity of their mission. However, this complexity increases with the growth of the traffic volume, leading to an increase in the paper tapes to be handled. It is easy to understand that the resulting increase in the workload of the controllers risks becoming incompatible with the high safety requirements which must be satisfied.

The present invention aims to provide a management system which provides a solution to the problem which has just been exposed.

To achieve this object, the system according to the invention is characterized in that the information carrier tapes are virtual tapes viewable on a screen of a computer equipment and the device for positioning tables of the tapes are also virtual tables. viewable on said screen.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the aforementioned screen of the computer equipment of a controller station is a touch screen.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the virtual positioning table comprises in particular a waiting table area for receiving the virtual tapes of departure and arrival newly created on the controller station, an operational area constituting the support for the manipulation manual tapes departure and arrival and an area for transferring a departure or arrival strip to the next checkpoint or to the archiving device.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the virtual positioning table further comprises a chute window that can be viewed on command and intended to store the list of newly created bands.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, for the transfer of a strip from a controller such as a next controller such as a LOC controller, a "capture" window of the waiting table of the following controller is provided, which reproduces the contents of the container leaving the waiting table of the next controller on the screen of the controller operating the transfer.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, when the "capture" window is displayed, the controller operating the transfer is able to act on the content of the table of the next controller by manually inserting the start bands therein.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, a departure band remains the property of the controller operating the transfer as long as the latter has not performed an action of validation of the transfer, such as the release of the band, but becomes property of the next controller from this action.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the management system comprises an archiving window.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the zones of the positioning table for receiving the departure and arrival bands comprise two containers intended respectively for the reception of the departure and arrival bands and in that means are provided for resizing containers. According to yet another characteristic of the invention, an animation is provided in the chute window highlighting events such as the appearance of a band in the window, its positioning in the list of bands and the overall displacement in the list as well as the disappearance of a band bound for the waiting area.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, an animation can be provided in the waiting table area, intended to highlight events such as the appearance of a strip in the waiting area and its positioning in the list and overall moves.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the management system is designed to allow writing and annotation gestures on the tapes.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the departure and arrival bands can have formats of different sizes, such as a standard size, a reduced size and a zoomed size.

According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the appearance of the virtual bands such as the color, the texture and the brightness can be variable. The invention will be better understood and other objects, characteristics, details and advantages thereof will appear more clearly in the explanatory description which follows, made with reference to the appended schematic drawings given solely by way of example illustrating an embodiment. of the invention and in which:

FIG. 1 shows a strip of paper information carrier, according to the state of the art;

- Figure 2 shows a control station of a SOL controller of the state of the art; - Figure 3 illustrates a virtual positioning table of virtual information bands according to the invention, some of which are placed on the table.

The human-machine interface proposed by the invention differs essentially from the usual human-machine interfaces used in control stations by the fact that the paper strips serving as information carriers are replaced by virtual media 10, in other words electronic, and also in the form of strips, viewable on the screen of a computer equipment equipping the control post and produced in the form of a touch screen, and the device for positioning the paper strips by virtual tables 12 , that is to say electronic, also viewable on the screen of the computer equipment and on which the virtual tapes 10 can be positioned and manipulated in a manner corresponding to the manipulation that the controllers are used to doing with their state-of-the-art human-machine interface.

The new concept of virtual tapes and virtual positioning boards was made with the intention of not distorting the "spirit" and the very foundations of the previous concept. The idea which is at the basis of the invention and which constitutes a major advantage is therefore not to use paper tapes and their hardware positioning tables in place of sophisticated computer solutions capable of causing upheavals at level of the controllers' working methods, but rather to propose a solution which allows the intrinsic qualities of the paper tapes to be preserved, namely the simplicity, flexibility and richness of these supports, while reducing or eliminating all that makes them its current limits, i.e. constraints associated with too many bands, and by offering, via electronic integration, new services with high added value.

To describe below, in more detail, the new man-machine interface according to the invention, reference is made in particular to FIG. 3. This figure illustrates all of the tables which are displayed on the screen of the equipment. computer of a SOL controller and a certain number of virtual or electronic tapes arranged on the board. These strips have, like paper strips of the prior art, a rectangular shape. The advantage of virtual tapes over hardware tapes, however, is that the format can be changed, as seen in Figure 3, depending on the area of the table they occupy and the function they must perform.

As shown in FIG. 3, the positioning table is mainly divided into three zones extending vertically and in parallel, namely, from left to right, a relatively narrow zone C1, which constitutes the waiting table, a zone C2 plus wide and which constitutes the operational panel and a very narrow zone C3 on the right side of the panel and which constitutes the transfer zone. The table also has a chute window which can be viewed, optionally, and which has the function of storing the list of newly created bands. A virtual strip, for example departure, is created on the station of a SOL controller at the time when the authorization to start the engines of the aircraft, that is to say the activation of the flight is given. The event "creation of the strip" corresponds to the event "printing of the strip of paper" of the concept used until now.

The chute window has two containers. In one the departure flights appear and in the other the arrival flights. The two containers are separated by a dynamic handle to resize their size. A reduced animation is provided in the window chute which will highlight the following events: the appearance of the strip in the window, its positioning in the list, the overall movement down and the disappearance of a strip from the chute window. The disappearance of the strip from the chute window to the waiting table is managed according to a configurable process in the controller. The strips can be removed from the chute window in advance and manually to the waiting table or directly to the operational table. The bands present in the waiting table can automatically re-integrate the chute window in case of overflow of capacity of the waiting table. The chute window can be accessed by pressing and holding an opening button or displayed durably for interaction needs, for example for configuration or forced display of a strip, by simple pressing on the same button. opening. In the second case, the chute window has an additional part which corresponds to the setting area.

The chute window can be designed to receive in each container at least ten virtual strips, depending on the position of the central handle. One could foresee that a permanent opening by a simple press on the button for opening the chute window induces the freezing of the movement of the strips inside the window as long as it is displayed. This rule is justified by security considerations. Indeed, the action of aiming to grab a band should not be disturbed by a concomitant movement of a band. The departure bands no longer disappear from the chute window if the departure waiting table is at its maximum capacity. The same rule applies to arrival bands. There could be four choices for managing the passage of a strip from the chute window to the waiting table, namely continuous automatic transit, manual transit to the unit, manual transit by group of for example five bands maximum and a manual transit by group of ten bands maximum. If the "automatic transit" setting is chosen, a newly created strip can pass directly from the chute window to the waiting table if the latter has at least one space available. One or more departure or arrival strips in the departure or arrival waiting table can be automatically re-entered into the chute window when, following a compression of the departure container from the board or the introduction of a strip coming from the board operational, the departure or arrival waiting board has no more space available. A strip in the chute window cannot be moved manually inside the window but can be moved in the window towards the waiting table or the operational table. This movement becomes manually irreversible as soon as the strip is released in one of the two tables. An overall movement animation is assigned to the list of bands when one or more places become available at a lower level, and for the upper container of the window, when the dynamic handle is moved down.

We could integrate the display area of the chute window with the control panel positioned in the lower part of the operational table. The display area has two parts, the left part with two counters, one assigned to the start bands and the other to the arrival bands and the access button to the chute window, by a consultation (press and hold) or a display (single press), from this window. The creation of a departure or arrival strip increments by N + l the value displayed on the corresponding counter while the passage of a departure or arrival strip from the chute window to the waiting table decreases by Nl the value displayed on the counter correspondent. The function and the rules for handling the waiting table will be described below.

The waiting table indicated in Cl in FIG. 3 is arranged on the right or on the left of the screen according to the chosen setting. FIG. 4 shows that the interface provides a location for the configuration window on the screen, to the right of the area C1 of the waiting table. This table receives, within the limit of available places, the newly created departure and arrival bands on the controller station considered. The waiting board is separated into two containers, an upper container and a lower container. Each of these containers is specifically assigned to the departure or arrival bands according to the global configuration chosen via the chute window. The two containers are separated by a dynamic handle to resize their size.

The rule governing the passage of the strips from the chute window to one or other of the containers on the waiting table is configurable. The rule governing the automatic classification of bands in one or other of the containers on the waiting table is also configurable. An animation could be provided in the waiting table which will highlight events such as the appearance of a band in the table and its positioning in the list and overall movements. The passage of the bands towards the operational table is done manually. In addition, bands present in the operational table can be re-introduced according to the same process in the waiting table. In this case, an animation will illustrate the capture and handling of the tape by the system as well as its classification in the waiting table.

We will more specifically discuss some rules of operation and handling of the waiting table. Thus, no starting strip can pass from the chute window to the board waiting for departure when it is at maximum capacity. This is also true for arrivals. The departure and arrival tapes are displayed in a standard format "waiting tapes" in the waiting table but change to reduced format if the nominal capacity of the associated container is reached. There are two scenarios for the reduced format rule. According to the first scenario, as soon as the maximum capacity limit is reached, all of the bands settle gradually and uniformly at the arrival of each new band, to reach a maximum capacity of about fifteen bands if the handle is positioned in the middle, instead of ten which is the normal capacity for standard format tapes. As soon as the maximum capacity limit is reached, the last band which arrives in the waiting table will be positioned in the list according to the classification rule chosen, adopt the reduced format and induce in parallel the transition to the reduced format of the band sharing the same location in the list. The compression limit allocated to the first scenario has been defined so as to maintain a comfortable tactile grip on the part at the head of the strip. The second scenario consists in switching to bands reduced by half in width, as soon as the maximum capacity limit is reached, in order to put two per line of the waiting table, thus doubling the capacity of the containers of the waiting table. waiting. It will also be noted that the classification of the starting bands in the waiting table could be a chronological classification in order of appearance in the waiting table, an alphabetical classification of the callsigns, a numerical classification on the number contained in the callsign or an alphabetical classification of the departure car park.

The appearance of a departure or arrival band in the waiting table is accompanied by an animation positioning beforehand the band's service channel opposite the future location of the latter in the listing. A second animation then shows the appearance of the strip (exit from the channel), its horizontal movement towards the list and its positioning in the list (whether or not accompanied by a grouped movement of part of the list and of a passage in reduced format). One set motion animation can be assigned to one of two lists when the dynamic handle is moved up or down. A strip in the waiting table cannot be moved manually inside it, but can be moved to the operational table. This movement remains reversible even after the release of the strip in the operational table. The list will be fed so as to always display the oldest strip at the top of the list or the beginning of the alphabetical or numerical classification at the top of the list. The top of this list will be attached to the top of the container.

As indicated above, the man-machine interface provides a window for configuring the waiting table. This configuration window allows the controllers to access parameters such as the choice of the automatic classification mode of the departure bands in the departure container, the choice of the automatic classification mode of the bands arriving in the arrival container, the positioning of the switchboard. 'wait on the right or on the left of the screen and the choice of allocation of the start tapes in the upper or lower container of the chute window and the waiting table. The operational table occupying most of the screen C2 will be described below.

The C2 operational table is supposed to fulfill substantially the same basic functions as the paper strip operational table, namely to provide the support for manual manipulation of the start and end strips. No movement such as entering a strip in the table, moving a strip within the array and the output of a strip of the array will only be done in an automatic mode. The departure and arrival bands arranged in this table by the controller correspond in their vast majority to flights occurring in frequency with the controller.

As shown in FIG. 3, the operational table C2 is divided into two distinct columns, a left column COI and a right column C02 to which a central column C03 is superimposed. The controller is forced to arrange these bands in one of the three columns, with the possibility for the right and left columns to make horizontal shifts to the right and left.

After this general description of the operation and manipulation of the operational table, we will recall some rules in more detail. Thus an animation accompanies the insertion of a band in a column (in centered or offset position), as well as the possible induced displacements of the other bands already present in the column. No offset is allowed in the central column. In the left and right columns, a strip moved vertically in the same column in a centered or offset position will push in the same vertical movement any strip or bundle of strips in its path in the same column or in the central column. Concerning the central column C03, a strip moved vertically in this column will push in the same vertical movement any strip or packet of strip found on its way in the same column or in the COI or C02 column.

The transfer zone C3 located at the far right of the table will be described below.

Generally, the transfer area is placed on the right side of the screen, but the controller could modify this location if he prefers to place the waiting table on the right side. The transfer area allows the controller to exit a departure or arrival strip from its area of responsibility in order to transmit this responsibility to the next control position if this exists or otherwise to archive the tape. The transfer gesture will result in the disappearance of the tape from the operational table, the "offline" recording of the data associated with the tape, the creation of the tape in the waiting table in the LOC controller station if there is one. , creation or transfer of the writing right if the tape already exists on the next SOL position, in the event of archiving the display of the tape in the archive window for a predetermined duration of for example 15 minutes. Any movement of a departure or arrival band towards the transfer zone is accompanied by a real-time indication displaying the name of the next sector or the archiving icon designated by default by the system or selected by the controller. The transfer area of the SOL controller has a specific button for transferring the start tapes to the LOC controller. This button allows it to display via a "capture" window the container leaving the LOC controller wait table.

For a better understanding of the function of the transfer zone, we will recall some major rules. When transferring a flight departing to a next controller station, a SOL or LOC controller, and a flight arriving at the next controller, a SOL controller for example, the system automatically directs the tape with opening of write rights if the tape already exists on the next station, to the correct recipient. This addressee is known to the system by means of the knowledge of the standard departure or arrival route on the SOL, the control stations crossed and the configuration on the ground. The controller can modify the next recipient of the tape. Among the choices offered, the selection of the "archives" icon will direct the strip directly in the window. "archiving". A group re-rolling dialogue is planned. We will always select a next sector and we will first systematically offer a plurality of choices among which SOL controllers and LOC controllers.

The controller has the possibility of returning a band to the giving position by selecting the name of the giving sector in the "next sector" dialog menu. The default transfer of the departure bands from the SOL controller to the LOC controller by simply positioning the departure band in the transfer channel has the effect of automatically positioning the band at the top of the list in the waiting table of the LOC controller. The default transfer of the starting bands from the SOL controller to the LOC controller can be replaced by an "intrusive" transfer as will be explained below. During a transfer to the LOC controller in a default mode or an "intrusive" mode, if the container leaving the LOC controller waiting table is full, the system will place the transferred tape in the waiting area of the transfer area of the SOL controller. If the waiting area is also saturated, the SOL controller will have no other solution than to defer its transfer action. Any gesture of transfer from a departure or arrival flight is accompanied by automatic and centralized archiving of associated data. This is an archive not accessible on the controller station.

As explained above, the transfer of a tape from a SOL controller to a LOC controller is done using the "capture" window of the LOC controller wait table for intrusive mode.

The "capture" window of the waiting table reproduces exactly the contents of the container leaving the waiting table of the LOC controller on the screen of the SOL controller which operates a transfer. When this window is displayed, it is possible to act on the content of the LOC controller board by manually inserting the start bands. By this fact, the SOL controller can carry out departure sequence preparation activities for the attention of the LOC controller. Among the operating and manipulation rules concerning the transfer of a tape by means of the "capture" window allows the controller to insert the tape anywhere in the list of flights present in the departure container of the LOC controller. As long as the starting tape has not been released by the SOL controller, the tape remains the owner of the SOL controller. As soon as the band is released by the SOL controller, the latter will position itself in the list at the location chosen by the SOL controller and immediately becomes the owner of the LOC controller in the same way as all the other start bands already present in the table d wait for the LOC controller. The concept of "owner" tape at the intersection of the two checkpoints is similar to the concept of writing rights except that the first applies to the handling rights of the tape and the second to the rights of interaction on the tape, such as for example changes to parameters such as flight plan, input of instructions and free writing. These rights are never allocated simultaneously to two checkpoints. The "owner" band of the SOL controller can be manipulated by the latter. The LOC controller simply perceives the reaction indication in real time on his waiting board, for example in the form of a phantom strip faithfully reproducing the position and movements of the strip being inserted and still maintained by the controller GROUND. The "owner" band (s) of the LOC controller in the departure container of its waiting table can be freely manipulated by the LOC controller and at any time insofar as the opening and interactions in the "capture" window by the are in no way blocking for the LOC controller. The controller will be notified in real time if the "capture" window is displayed when the LOC controller acts on its board. Unlike the SOL control station where only the entry and exit of tapes are authorized in the containers of the waiting table, the LOC controller can manually modify the location of the tapes in the departure container.

The function "archiving window" will be described below. This window can be displayed on all control stations. It contains two lists, a list containing the last archived departure flights and a list containing the last archived arrival flights. The bands are placed by default in chronological order in each list, but an alphabetical classification can also be selected. The maximum capacity is, for example, twenty bands per list. Each strip has a predetermined lifetime of for example 15 minutes maximum. The format of the bands is identical to that of the bands visible in the chute window. The standard format of a strip can be viewed by simply pressing and holding the strip. The displayed tapes can be removed from the archive window to be replaced in the operational table. No animation is planned inside the window.

More precisely, according to the established rules, all of the data associated with the archived tapes remains available for offline consultation by specialized services throughout the regulatory period. Any controller on his control station has access to the archiving window which is common to all SOL and LOC stations. The consultation actions by opening the standard strip by pressing and holding the header can be carried out simultaneously on the same flight on different stations. On the other hand, the action of recovering a particular flight by passing a tape from the archiving window to the operational table cannot be performed by more of a controller at the same time. Consequently, any action of moving an archived tape initiated on a station will be interpreted by the system as an intention to return this tape on the operational table and will therefore cause a temporary freezing of this tape on all the other stations where it was displayed. Freezing means that it remains displayed and searchable but can no longer be moved. The effective release of a band in the operational table will cause the automatic disappearance of the same band from the archiving window of all the other control stations.

The virtual tapes and certain operating rules and handling of these tapes will be described below. It should first of all be noted that, like the paper tapes currently used, virtual tapes allow all writing or annotation gestures, such as additions corresponding to the entry of explicit information, the modifications corresponding to erasure gestures followed by additions of information and specialization corresponding to underline, entourage and erasure gestures, to which controllers are accustomed.

The virtual or electronic tapes can be moved on the touch screen by touching the front part of the tapes with a finger and the tapes move horizontally and vertically following the finger as long as it is in contact with the screen.

In general, the departure and arrival bands of the SOL controller station come in three contextual formats, depending on whether they are in the chute window, on the waiting table or on the operational table. The formats "waiting table" and "operational table" can be declined in three sizes, standard size, reduced size and zoomed size. The transition from one size to another is, as the case may be, attributable to a controller action or to an action system. A strip in zoomed format in the waiting table is strictly the same regarding its form and content, as the strip in zoomed format of the operational table. Concerning the main rules, any input of instructions on a tape by gesture recognition generates an indication on the station which processes the tape and possibly the positions having the tape in read only. On the other hand, any other entry such as writing, selection of a strap, systematically generates an indication on the screen of the station which processes the tape and the screen of the positions having the tape in read only. Any modification carried out on a band of station N which processes the bands, called active, will generate an indication on the copy of the band in the next station N + 1 if it is in the operational table.

A start strip located in the waiting table cannot be moved manually inside this table, the classification being carried out there automatically, but can be moved from the waiting table to the operational table. Modification actions, such as modifications to one or more flight parameters, are not permitted on the departure bands of the waiting table. Each departure band passing from the waiting table to the operational table has by default all its modification buttons disabled such as the type of aircraft and the departure parking area. These actions being very occasional, the prohibitions are intended not to hinder the controller in the context of his actions of moving the bands inside the operational panel. However, the controller can, with a gesture on the tape, unlock the tape and access the modification dialog. The input area with gesture recognition can only be activated on the standard strip of the operational table. No action can be performed on a starting strip located in the waiting area of the transfer area. Free writing actions, not associated with gesture recognition, are only possible on a start strip in zoomed format. In order to improve the comfort of free writing, one could also provide for an automatic displacement of any strip in the zoomed format towards the lower part of the screen, with the possibility of placing the hand on the edge of the screen. The zoomed strip will then be a copy of the initial strip which will remain in its place in the waiting or operational table. The font size of the zoomed bands will be increased in proportion to the increase in the band size. When returning to standard size, the size of the inscriptions added through free writing will decrease proportionally. Regarding the "write" and "read" functions, the departure bands are created in the SOL station in a "read only" state if the associated flights previously pass through another SOL station. In this specific case and in accordance with what is happening in operational mode, the start tapes are "printed" simultaneously on all the SOL control stations that are concerned. Each of the SOL controllers can freely manipulate the start bands, that is to say move to and in the operational table, make format changes for example. On the other hand, the controllers remain prohibited from access to any entry such as modifications and instructions and free writing until the SOL controller of the previous station has transferred the tape. It is only at this moment that the start band goes from the "read only" state to the "write" state. A change in coding of the band preceded by an explicit signaling on the receiving position accompanies the passage from one state to another. Still in the case where a departure flight transits through another previous SOL station, all the free writing performed by the previous SOL controller Nl is displayed on the screen of the SOL controller, the display being carried out when the previous SOL controller has completed its write assignment after closing the zoomed strip. This display is limited to the appearance of the "free write" indicator icon in the header of the standard and reduced bands of the waiting table and reduced bands of the operational table.

In the classic case of a transfer to a SOL control station which does not previously pass through another SOL station, the start tapes are created in the SOL station directly in the "write" state. However, the system blocks access to a specific modification if the dialogue has already been initiated by one of the two protagonists, namely the SOL controller or a front station.

It should also be noted that the invention makes it possible, by "electronic" means, to give the information tapes different aspects, for example for the color or the texture and the brightness of the strip, depending on the take-off runway for example.

The foregoing description has been given by way of example only and numerous modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. Airport traffic management system, in particular the movement of aircraft between their parking area and their departure and arrival, by controllers in particular (SOL) and (LOC) responsible respectively for flight management in their area responsibility: between the car park and the runway threshold and on the runways, during the first phase of take-off or the last phase of landing, by means of information media in the form of a strip, one of which is associated with each flight, including the airplane and flight identification information and on which the controllers are likely to record information relating to their management action, and tables of positioning of the information bands according to the needs of management, the bands of information being transmitted by a controller to a next controller when the aircraft they identify leaves the management sector of the first controller to the sector of the second, characteristic ised in that the information carrier tapes are virtual tapes viewable on a screen of a computer equipment of a controller and the tape positioning table device is a virtual table also viewable on said screen. 2. Management system according to claim 1, characterized in that the aforementioned screen of the computer equipment of a controller station is a touch screen. 3. Management system according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the virtual positioning table in particular comprises a waiting table zone (Cl) for receiving the virtual tapes of departure and arrival newly created on the controller, an operational area (C2) constituting the support for the manual manipulation of the start and end bands and a zone (C3) for transferring a band of departure or arrival at the next checkpoint or at the filing system. 4. Management system according to claim 3, characterized in that the virtual positioning table further comprises a chute window viewable on command and intended to store the list of newly created bands. 5. Management system according to one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that, for the transfer of a strip from a controller such as a SOL controller to a next controller such as a LOC controller, a window " capture "of the waiting table of the next controller is planned, which reproduces the contents of the container leaving the waiting table of the next controller on the screen of the controller operating the transfer. 6. Management system according to claim 5, characterized in that, when the "capture" window is displayed, the controller operating the transfer is able to act on the content of the table of the next controller by manually inserting the start bands therein. . 7. Management system according to claim 6, characterized in that a departure band remains the property of the controller operating the transfer as long as the latter has not performed a validation action on the transfer, such as the release of the band , but becomes the property of the next controller upon this action. 8. Management system according to one of claims 2 to 7, characterized in that it comprises an archiving window. 9. Management system according to one of claims 2 to 8, characterized in that the zones of the positioning table for receiving the departure and arrival bands comprise two containers intended respectively for the reception of the departure and arrival bands and in what means are provided for resizing the containers. 10. Management system according to one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that an animation is provided in the chute window highlighting events such as the appearance of a strip in the window, its positioning in the list of bands and the overall movement in the list as well as the disappearance of a band bound for the waiting area. 11. Management system according to one of claims 2 to 10, characterized in that an animation can be provided in the waiting table area, intended to highlight events such as the appearance of a band in the waiting area and its positioning in the list and overall movements. 12. Management system according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that it is designed to allow writing and anotation gestures on the tapes. 13. Management system according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the departure and arrival bands can have formats of different sizes, such as a standard size, a reduced size and a zoomed size. 14. Management system according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the appearance of the virtual bands such as color, texture and brightness can be variable.